According to accounts so far, he didn’t exactly brandish the weapon.
According to witnesses, the suspect had his hands in his coat pockets.. the police set the dog on him, he pulled out a .357 and shot the dog, and the police shot him.
I don’t know much more at this point than that... what exactly lead to the cops deciding to unleash the dog at him... however I can’t see any sane person with a weapon not pulling it out to shoot a dog that’s going for him.
I would assume the police issued the suspect orders to show his hands, or something else before releasing the dog, but I don’t know. However, I can’t condemn anyone for instinctively shooting an animal coming after them.
Understand I am not condemning the police for their actions in this matter, I don’t know the exact situation so with the facts as they are I can’t say.. However I can’t say that if a dog was coming after me and I had a gun that I would not do the exact same thing... to expect any human to take a dog attack so they can stay in compliance with an order is a bit unrealistic.
Are you kidding? Even when the dog is a police dog? It would make about as much sense to "instinctively" start shooting when a cop pulls you over.
I agree completely.
I would hazard to guess that prior to the dog being unleashed Mr. Jackson was told to put his hands in view...maybe he was told that more than once...and maybe his not cooperating with the police request to put his hands up is what caused the dog to be unleased upon him.
Twenty years ago the argument that it was only a dog compared to a human might have garnered some sympathy. In today’s world people care a great deal more about a dog than a human being.
Are you suggesting any suspect given orders by police should ignore the order, and if the dog is released, it's reasonable to shoot the dog?